Silicon Valley Startup Pitches Self-Insurance Software

Collective Health says it can help employers save money with software that helps them pay workers' health costs directly. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Apple is preparing to roll out "HealthKit," a monitoring app, as part of the iPhone 6 this fall.

Reuters: Silicon Valley Startup Launches Self-Insurance Option For Smaller Firms
The founders of Collective Health, a Silicon Valley startup, say they can help employers save money by self-insuring rather than paying premiums to a health insurance company. Collective Health has developed software to help companies pay workers' health costs directly. Collective Health describes its "sweet spot" as companies with a few hundred or a few thousand employees, typically in the tech sector (Farr, 8/12).

The San Jose Mercury News: High-Tech Startup Challenges Insurance Industry
As transformational health care laws take root in California and across the country, one Silicon Valley startup is trying to change the broken industry by becoming what may be the first high-tech health insurance provider. San Mateo company CollectiveHealth launches Tuesday with a new way to deliver health insurance -- tossing the complicated explanation of benefits and indecipherable bills, and replacing insurance paperwork and administrative red tape with software. CollectiveHealth joins a vibrant health tech scene, which has exploded in the last year and benefitted from millions in venture capital money, but the startup isn't another Fitbit or doctor-recommendation app (Somerville, 8/12).

Also in the headlines -

Reuters: Apple Prepares Healthkit Rollout Amid Tangled Regulatory Web
Apple Inc. has been discussing how its "HealthKit" service will work with health providers at Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins as well as with Allscripts, a competitor to electronic health records provider Epic Systems, people familiar with the discussions said. While the talks may not amount to anything concrete, they underscore how Apple is intent on making health data, such as blood pressure, pulse and weight, available for consumers and health providers to view in one place. ... Apple has not divulged much specific detail on HealthKit, which is expected to be incorporated into the iPhone 6 come September (Farr, 8/12).

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